1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a providing medium, and particularly to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a providing medium, which can display a designated road with emphasis while preventing such a state that it becomes hard for a user to recognize the type of road.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a display example of a map image drawn through a car navigation program made to start on a personal computer or a car navigation apparatus. In this example, a current location and a destination are displayed, and further, various roads are displayed in designated modes. For example, an expressway is displayed in white, and an open road is displayed in black. A road in a tunnel is displayed with a dotted line. Like this, since various roads are drawn in the designated modes and are displayed, a user can recognize the type of the road (for example, an expressway, an open road, or a road in a tunnel) by checking the display.
When a route (road) from the current location to the destination is searched, in a conventional car navigation program made to start on a personal computer or a car navigation apparatus, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, a line (hereinafter referred to as an emphasis line) for displaying the searched road with emphasis is drawn (overwrite) on the searched road and is displayed. By the emphasis line, the user can easily check the road from the current location to the destination.
However, in this case, the searched road is overwritten with the emphasis line having a drawing width wider than the road width (drawing width) of the road. Thus, the user can not check the mode (color, shape) of the searched road. For example, the user can not recognize whether the road is an expressway or an open road.
Then, there is proposed a method of displaying a searched road with emphasis by drawing an emphasis line of a dotted line as shown in FIG. 3 or by not drawing a line but drawing triangular marks along a searched road as shown in FIG. 4.
In this case, the user can recognize the type of the road from the display of a portion of the road where the emphasis line of the dotted line or the triangular marks are not displayed. However, of course, with respect to the road overwritten with the emphasis line of the dotted line or the triangular marks, the user can not recognize the type of the road. For example, from the display example shown in FIG. 3, the user can not recognize that the road A is an open road in a tunnel. Besides, in the case where the emphasis line of the dotted line or the triangular marks are displayed on a complicatedly bent road, it becomes hard to check the road itself. For example, from the display example shown in FIG. 4, it is hard for the user to recognize which of a road C and a road D has been searched as the route in an area B. Particularly, in the case where a map image is displayed on a monitor with a low resolution, this problem becomes noticeable.
As described above, in a conventional car navigation apparatus or a personal computer on which a conventional car navigation program is made to start, there is a problem that when a searched route (road) is visually emphasized, it becomes hard to recognize the type of the road.
The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to make it possible to visually emphasize a searched route while preventing such a state that it becomes hard for a user to recognize the type of a road.
According to a first aspect of the invention, an information processing apparatus for drawing a map image corresponding to digitized map information comprises: route search means for searching an objective route based on an input operation of a user; road drawing means for drawing a road of said route searched by said route search means in a mode differentiated by a type of said road; and emphasis line drawing means for drawing emphasis lines at both sides of said road over an overall length of said road drawn by said road drawing means.
According to a second aspect of the invention, an information processing method for drawing a map image corresponding to digitized map information comprises: a route search processing step for searching an objective route based on an input operation of a user; a road drawing processing step for drawing a road of said route searched at said route search processing step in a mode differentiated by a type of said road; and an emphasis line drawing processing step for drawing emphasis lines at both sides of said road over an overall length of said road drawn at said road drawing processing step.
According to a third aspect of the invention, a medium makes an information processing apparatus execute a program for drawing a map image corresponding to digitized map information, and said program comprises: a route search processing step for searching an objective route based on an input operation of a user; a road drawing processing step for drawing a road of said route searched at said route search processing step in a mode differentiated by a type of said road; and an emphasis line drawing processing step for drawing emphasis lines at both sides of said road over an overall length of said road drawn at said road drawing processing step.
In the information processing apparatus of the first aspect, the information processing method of the second aspect, and the medium of the third aspect, when the objective route is searched, the road of the searched route is drawn in a mode differentiated by the type of the road, and the emphasis lines are drawn at both the sides of the drawn road.